She Is My Reason
by TheOlympicWriter
Summary: My first Bane/Talia fic. Bane's P.O.V. He watches Talia grow up and she gives meaning to his life, and he vows to never let her go. His story of becoming the protector of the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul and how much he really loved her. Comment plz! If I can make anything better, plz say and I'll try!
1. The Light

_Age 12_

I found myself bewildered as I watched the ropes lower a woman into The Pit. The grown men that I stood amongst got hungry looks on their faces, some whistling and making gestures of encouragement. I only glanced at the woman's face when her feet touched the ground. Her expression was not fearful or saddened, but firm and strong. She had _hope_, something rare in The Pit. I had never seen that kind of hope nor have I ever experienced it. But as the woman was led to her cell, her new home, I felt her arm brush against my shoulder. A bit of her hope brushed off on me.

A few months later, rumors went around that she gave birth to a child. No one was allowed near her cage, especially the men that seemed to hunger for her. I was not oblivious to the lust and strange desires of men, watching as some gazed at the woman for days on end. Their eyes were filled with greed and hunger, but not a hunger for food. It was a sick, twisted sort of hunger, one I had never hoped to come to experience. But there came a day when one of the prison guards threw me in the cell right next to the woman, probably expecting that I would not suffer from the common lust of the others.

The woman gave me a single glance while I pulled myself up to my feet. She held the child close to her chest as it began to cry. I focused my eyes on the helpless being that was forced to grow up in this hell. I watched as it cried, representing the thousands of us who looked up at the skies with broken hope. Here in the pit, the greatest torture was seeing the light, but knowing that you would never reach it. Men have tried the perilous climb but none could succeed the jump. I vowed that I'd figure out how to conquer the jump, but for now, I could barely get enough food at the mess hall.

Sitting, I felt the coldness of the floor run up my spine. The child from the other cell ceased its cries and I assumed it to be asleep. I felt an underlying pity for her, never having felt pity for anyone but the woman before. It was a harsh and saddening feeling, but one I couldn't help to feel. I suddenly looked up at hearing a feminine voice whispering a single word.

"Talia…"

_Age 22_

The child grew up hidden from the strange men of the prison. I for one grew up avoiding the need or feeling for the touch of a woman's flesh. I had focused my mind, my body and my spirit on escaping Hell on Earth. I became strong, stronger than any man could hope to become. Because I was stronger in faith in myself than I was in body, and the men began to realize it. I studied my own physique and pushed it. I found myself yearning to be bigger and stronger, so that I could push myself to go far beyond what these walls were made to conceal.

Talia, the young girl whom the woman bore, grew up in secret. Her hair was cut short always to prevent the others from knowing that she too, was feminine. Only I had known her secret, and watched as she progressed from life. Her mother was getting weaker by the day and the two had requested to be locked up in the cell after the doctor treated the mother. I had watched Talia run from the others as they caused her distraught, just like they used to do to me.

I hung from the ceiling of my cell, doing pull ups for the last hour or so. Reaching my goal for the day, I dropped down. I noticed a gathering, and a man stepping up to the platform against the wall. He was going to attempt to climb out. Feeling a need to satisfy my human schadenfreude*, I took my place in the crowd amongst the others. As the young man began to climb, the prisoners chanted their cry of hope.

"Deshi! Deshi! Basara Basara!"

I didn't believe in such faith. _He Rises._ It was a lost hope for me that could only be regained when someone actually makes it out of The Pit. Noticing Talia standing in the corner, I couldn't feel anything less than sentimental when I saw tears coming down her eyes. She wanted to leave here, because she had known nothing else since her birth. Sliding away, she ran off into the shadows with tears falling to the cold floor. The man from the climb tried to make the jump and failed. At the sound of his bones cracking, I lost interest and slowly made my way to find where Talia had hid.

I found her curled up behind a ledge, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head buried deep in them. Quit sobs came from her. Crouching over to her, I touched her shoulder as gently as I could. Feeling her flinch, I pulled back quickly. She looked up at me, scooting farther away with fright in her eyes.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." I said.

"Are you going to come and take me?" she replied with a panic.

"No. I am not going to hurt you. I promise."

She glanced into my eyes to search my soul, as if she was trying to tell if I was lying.

"You're the man from the cell over…"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Slowly, as if she had found a certain trust for me, she crawled over and sat down in front of me.

"You really won't hurt me?"

"No. I am different."

Finding herself looking down, she let out a quick little sigh and she fumbled with her fingers a little.

"I…I know." She choked up. I had no words for a response, and I just watched her. Feeling that some form of communication should have been returned, all I did was gently place a hand on her shoulder. Talia then sat up a little and leaned over to me, putting her head in my lap and closing her eyes.

"I will protect you, Talia," I said quietly. "I'll never let these men hurt you."

"Thank you…" was all she whispered before she fell asleep.


	2. Growing Close

Days had passed, and Talia had come to be inseparable to me. She comes to me whenever and I tend to her when she does. She has turned my life in this hell into something meaningful, knowing that we share this common hate for The Pit. And knowing that I can help her has enlightened me in a way I never thought possible. She had come to trust me, to the point where I have begun to love her.

So we sat in her cell while her sickly mother slept.

"So you weren't born in here?" she asked.

"No, I was sent here when I was six."

"Why? What did you do wrong?"

"Nothing. It's what my father did wrong."

She looked confused.

"My father was a criminal. That's how he provided for us. But he got caught robbing the market and his punishment was sending me down here."

"That's not fair…"

"Well I don't think it's very fair that you were born here. You had no say in it."

Talia hung her head and shrugged. I tapped her shoulder.

"Don't feel too hard about it. We'll get out, I promise you."

"We?" she asked, looking up.

"I will take you and your mother, Talia. You have my word."

The child smiled brightly and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back, giving her a light smile.

The doctor, an older man who was known for being strange and often incoherent, unlocked the cell door and stepped inside. At the sound of the metal bars slamming together, Talia's mother awoke. She knew that he had come to work on her. Talia looked up at the doctor, and by her expression, I could tell that she had not taken a liking to him. Standing, I lifted Talia up with me. The doctor gave me a cold stare.

"What are you in their cell?" he snarled.

"Just telling stories," I replied calmly, lightly poking Talia's cheek. She giggled. "Nothing to worry about, doctor."

Not amused, the old man focused his attention on the mother. He dabbed her forehead with cold water to lower the fever and drained some blood. I never understood why anyone thought draining blood would cure anything. I could have sworn that Talia's mother turned paler with every blood drop spilled. Talia turned her head into my shoulder, not able to bear the sight.

"That's enough for today." The doctor mumbled, cleaning up his supplies. Talia dropped down from my hold and ran to her mother, grasping her hand with a worried look. The mother groaned and closed her eyes, slowly stroking Talia's cheek. I gave a small sigh, watching the doctor leave the cell. Some of the other prisoners waited for him to leave, hoping that he would forget to lock the cell. Well, they were out of luck. I scooped up Talia and she gave me a sad little look. I hated seeing her like this, but there was no other promise that I could make to her.

"I'll leave you two alone for the night." I said. She nodded and gave me a kiss of the cheek. I smiled and set her down.

"Goodnight." She said with a smile.

"Goodnight." I whispered back, leaving her cell and locking it behind.


	3. You're Different

"How come you have such a funny name?"

"What? You don't like my name?"

"I do…but it's not a people name!"

Talia sat with her legs crossed in front of me, her elbows resting on her knees and her fists propping her head up. I sat across from her, one knee pulled up to my chest with my arm resting on it. She wondered where a name like mine came from. She had a right to wonder. "Bane" wasn't a human name. So I figured I'd tell her the truth.

"Well, if you'd really like to know…" I started. She crawled over to me and sat in my lap, putting her head on my arm.

"Make this story another good one while you're at it." She requested with a giggle. I ruffled the brown bush of hair on her head and gave a small smile.

"I was born here just like you," I said. "Many of the men that are here were born here. Some have already died. But when my mother had me, they took her from me because…I was a testing opportunity,"

"A what?"

"They used me to test things like medications and drugs,"

Talia nodded and continued to listen intently.

"I rarely saw my mother while they were testing various steroids on me. The men at the laboratories had to give me a name. So they gave me 'Bane'. I don't know exactly why…but by the time I was old enough to talk and respond, that's the only name I responded to. My mother had died by the time I was old enough to realize I could have change my name. And well…I guess it stuck,"

"But why don't you change your name now?" she asked.

"I don't think it's necessary," I replied. "I've come to like it."

"But why?"

"People hear it and they're afraid,"

"Of what?"

"Of me,"

"I'm not afraid of you…"

I smiled and looked down at her.

"Well I guess I should be glad then, right?"

Talia shrugged and laid her head back on me, yawning deeply. She didn't know the definition of being afraid yet. I know she didn't. It was either because she was always afraid, and it became normal to her, or that she hadn't feared anything yet.

"We should get out of here and you should become my daddy," she said after a while.

"What about your mother?"

"She doesn't care. I know she doesn't,"

I stroked Talia's hair as she curled up into her favorite sleeping position, closing her eyes.

"We're gonna get out," she yawned. "I know it,"

"How do you know?"

"Because…" she yawned again. "You can do anything. And one day…we'll leave."

Those were her last words before she drifted off to sleep that night. All I did was ponder over her words all night long.


End file.
